CBID goes trekking, and other touristy tales

One of the fun parts about these global trips is that we also get some time to see the sights outside the hospitals. We've had some time in the afternoons to explore Kathmandu and the surrounding areas, and had all day today for our own adventures. What follows is my completely arbitrary ranking of our tourist activities thus far.

5) Exploring Patan
A very long time ago, there were three kingdoms in the Kathmandu Valley, located in Kathmandu and the neighboring cities of Bhaktapur and Patan. I mention this because we got to check out the royal square in Patan after we finished up a morning of work in the Jhpiego office.

Here is our team hard at work synthesizing our observations and coming up with a strategy for next week....

Here are some of the temples we saw after.

4) Wandering around Kathmandu
We are staying in Thamel, which is an exciting, tourist-filled area of the city packed with shops and restaurants. Every time I leave the hotel, I notice something I haven't seen before.

The Kathmandu palace square is just a short walk from our hotel. It's amazing how a city that's become so modern can still have architecture like this tucked around the corners.

3) Eating
Our restaurant options are nearly endless. Within five minutes of our hotel, we have access to Indian, Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese, continental, Mexican, Italian, and "New Orleans" food, which Kimber says is nothing like what they actually serve in her native town. We've found new restaurants and returned to some of my favorites from last year, like the Momo Hut to introduce the group to the magic of Tibetan dumplings, and the Annapurna Cafe, which has the best and cheapest lunch food around. Our bill for all the food shown below was less than $10!

2) Monkey Temple
As the name would suggest, this is a temple that is surrounded by freely roaming monkeys. The view of Kathmandu is amazing, despite the smog. 

The monkeys certainly keep things interesting. Some might find them cool. I just find them creepy.

1) Hiking to Nagarkot
I've finally trekked in Nepal! One of my greatest regrets from my last trip has vanished, now that I've gotten to experience a small taste of the hiking here that attracts adventurers from all over the world. During our free day, a driver dropped us off just outside the city, with the plan to pick us up several hours later in a place called Nagarkot.

Although the hotel strongly encouraged us to get a guide, we turned them down- and I'm glad we did. We followed dirt or paved roads the whole time, and although we made a few wrong turns, the people we encountered were happy to give us directions. We must have said "namaste" to dozens of fellow hikers and people who lived near the trail, including lots of cute kids who would get so excited when we said hi to them. We also befriended some dogs who helped show us the way.

The view of the Himalayas became better and better as we climbed higher and higher. The view was our primary motivation, as we soon learned we had underestimated the length of the hike. After taking plenty of breaks for pictures and snacks, we eventually arrived at the Nagarkot tower, which offered the best view of the mountains for those who were tall enough to see over the hordes of people gathered there.

Our hike was more demanding than we expected, and most of the time, we weren't sure if we were going the right way. Still, the view throughout was rewarding, and the feeling of accomplishment at the end was wonderful. We realized it's a lot like what we're going through with our projects right now. Our direction can seem unclear, and we might feel unprepared for everything we have to face, but the important thing is that we keep going. It's absolutely worth it.